Tamburlaine

Act 1, Scene 1. In the Persian capital of Persepolis, the dimwitted king Mycetes laments the recent raids on Persian merchants by a Scythian bandit named Tamburlaine, who’s said to have vast ambitions. Mycetes dispatches the commander Theridamas to thwart Tamburlaine. Meanwhile, the king’s brother Cosroe criticizes him to his face for his weakness. Once Mycetes has gone, Cosroe reveals his plot to usurp the throne, which members of the royal court support.

Act 1, Scene 2. In Scythia, Tamburlaine is wooing the Egyptian princess Zenocrate, whom he has captured along with her servants, including Agydas. She resists, though his evident charisma has already won him the loyal followers Techelles and Usumcasane, who are fully invested in his dreams of conquest. Tamburlaine takes off his shepherd’s garb and puts on glorious armor. Word arrives of the incoming outnumbering Persian force, and Tamburlaine remains calm.

Theridamas arrives, surprised to discover the mighty, impressive Tamburlaine is the lowly bandit he was told to find. Tamburlaine easily persuades Theridamas to switch sides and join him. They swear oaths of friendship and depart in high spirits. Meanwhile, Zenocrate laments her captivity.

Act 2, Scene 1. In Parthia, word returns to Cosroe of Tamburlaine’s overwhelming, almost godlike presence, and of his alliance with Theridamas. This excites Cosroe, who plans to ally with them in his coup against Mycetes for the throne.

Act 2, Scene 2. Meanwhile, also in Parthia, Mycetes receives word that Tamburlaine’s assembled force presents a real threat to his own. The oafish king plans to distract the presumably barbarian enemy by strewing gold about the battlefield.

Act 2, Scene 3. Cosroe says he has placed all his hope on Tamburlaine, who responds that his hope is well placed because he, Tamburlaine, has his victory assured by fates and oracles. The crew prepares for battle with Mycetes.

Act 2, Scene 4. Mycetes curses war and ridiculously attempts to hide his crown so it cannot be stolen. Tamburlaine catches him in the act, but he insists on returning the crown to the king so that he can defeat him in proper battle.

Act 2, Scene 5. Later, Mycetes has been defeated, and Tamburlaine now bestows the king’s crown on Cosroe. Cosroe makes Tamburlaine regent of Persia and then departs amidst glorious plans for restoring the empire his brother mismanaged. Tamburlaine, enthused by Cosroe’s regal pomp, declares that he himself can and should take the Persian crown. He and his men happily decide to attack Cosroe as soon as possible, and they win the crown in a mere “jest.”

Act 2, Scenes 6-7. An outraged Cosroe and his men resolve to destroy Tamburlaine but are themselves swiftly defeated. As Cosroe dies cursing him, Tamburlaine cites Jove as his precedent for seizing the crown and claims that nature has designed man for unceasing ambition. Theridamas, Techelles, and Usumcasane declare that this ambition is what has won their fealty to Tamburlaine. They enthusiastically declare him king of Persia.

Act 3, Scene 1. In Constantinople, Turkish Emperor Bajazeth is laying siege. He and his allied North African kings discuss the rumored threat of Tamburlaine’s expanding conquest, and they decide to dispatch an envoy demanding that he not set foot in Africa or Greece. Bajazeth seems quite secure in his immense power.

Act 3, Scene 2. Back in Asia Minor, Agydas asks Zenocrate what’s bothering her, and it seems she’s lovesick and tormented over Tamburlaine. Agydas dismisses Tamburlaine as a brute and claims that they will soon be rescued, chiding Zenocrate for losing thought of her existing fiancé, the King of Arabia. But Zenocrate seems to feel real love and reverence for Tamburlaine. Meanwhile, Tamburlaine has entered the scene unseen and overhears Agydas’s contemptuous speech. He appears scowling and wordlessly leads Zenocrate away, terrifying Agydas. A moment later, Techelles appears offering a dagger, and Agydas instantly understands that Tamburlaine has allowed him to kill himself to prevent a more awful death, which he promptly does.

Act 3, Scene 3. Bajazeth’s envoy arrives, and Tamburlaine and his men utterly dismiss his threats, urging the emperor to send more men so they will have greater loot. Bajazeth himself then appears and verbally spars with Tamburlaine. As they prepare a battlefield, Zenocrate and Bajazeth’s wife Zabina stay behind to continue verbally sparring on their respective lovers’ behalf. The men shortly return, with Tamburlaine’s forces having utterly defeated those of Bajazeth. Bajazeth and Zabina lament their new imprisonment, while Tamburlaine now lays out a clear geographic program for world domination.

Act 4, Scene 1. In Memphis, the Soldan of Egypt gets word of the terror of Tamburlaine’s advancing horde. His advisers warn him that Tamburlaine’s force is irresistible and that he employs a system when waging siege: the first day, he pitches white tents to indicate that he will spare the inhabitants if they surrender. If they don’t he pitches red tents the next day, indicating that no grown males will be spared. If again they don’t surrender, he pitches black tents, promising that no one in the city will be spared at all. The Soldan, furious that this barbarian has captured his daughter, refuses to budge an inch and vows revenge.

Act 4, Scene 2. At his siege of Damascus, Tamburlaine uses the imprisoned Bajazeth as a footstool. Bajazeth and Zabina violently curse him, but he is unfazed, declaring his intent to keep them in his caravan, caged and fed with scraps. Zenocrate begs Tamburlaine to pity Damascus, where her kinsmen live, but he says that if he must put up the black tents, he will be true to his word.

Act 4, Scene 3. Nearby, the Soldan and the King of Arabia prepare for war with Tamburlaine, whom they equally detest. They are both eager for revenge for his abduction of Zenocrate.

Act 4, Scene 4. Damascus has still not surrendered, and Tamburlaine has raised the red flags while reveling and feasting outside their walls. He continues sparring with Bajazeth, whom he allows just enough food to keep alive. Zenocrate is distraught, still pleading with Tamburlaine to spare Damascus, but he insists he cannot, then spells out his plans for further conquest.

Act 5, Scenes 1-2. Tamburlaine’s tents have gone black, and the Governor of Damascus dispatches a troop of vestal virgins to plead with Tamburlaine for the city’s lives.

Act 5, Scene 2, continued. Left to himself, Tamburlaine laments that his brutality has so distressed Zenocrate. He meditates on the nature of beauty and the limits of poetry.

Techelles returns with word that Damascus has fallen to them, and that the Soldan and King of Arabia are approaching. Upon Theridamas’s recommendation, Tamburlaine agrees to spare the Soldan when he defeats him, for Zenocrate’s sake.

Bajazeth spitefully despairs of ever being released, and he runs against his cage bars to kill himself. Zabina, upon discovering his body, does the same.

Zenocrate is horrified by the slaughter of the virgins and even more distraught when she finds the bodies of Bajazeth and Zabina. She laments how things have gone, but she remains genuinely torn by her unfailing love for Tamburlaine.

The King of Arabia enters, fatally wounded. Zenocrate and he share a sorrowful, tender moment as he dies. Tamburlaine returns with the Soldan alive, overjoying Zenocrate.

Tamburlaine proudly takes stock of his brutal accomplishments up to this point. The Soldan acknowledges that Tamburlaine has some kind of divine favor and concedes Zenocrate to him in marriage, again overjoying her. Zenocrate is crowned queen of Persia. Tamburlaine calls for preparations for the wedding, ordering for the King of Arabia to receive a proper burial and declaring a momentary “truce with all the world.”